The ongoing battle between beef producers and processors
over prices has moved out of the category and started to affect other sectors.

The beef situation has been a long-term issue with
farmers protesting outside processing plants around the country over what they
feel is a massive discrepancy between the prices they receive and the prices
paid by consumers in shops.

The second round of talks was hindered by the withdrawal
of trade body Meat Industry Ireland (MII) and the lack of representation from
the retail side​.

MII pulled out due to the refusal of protesters to step
back from blockading​ during talks despite its members agreeing to defer
legal action. It warned that continued illegal blockading has placed factory
employees in peril of layoffs and prevented beef farmers from having their
factory ready cattle processed and that the blockades have put in jeopardy
national and international customers of Irish beef. In a statement earlier this
week, it claimed that 3,000 employees of its members have been temporarily laid
off due to the protests​.

Retailers on the other hand have been quiet during the
affair, however that may change when it starts to hit supply. Irish state
broadcaster RTE reported that Aldi has been forced to relabel beef products as
‘processed in the UK’.

An Aldi statement said: “In light of industry-wide
availability issues, to ensure we have a full range of fresh beef and pork
products for our customers, some of our Irish beef and pork suppliers have
processed Irish beef and pork at their UK-based processing facilities, all of
which are Quality Assured by Bord Bia.”​

The disruption to the overall meat industry is not new.
Earlier this month, a Chinese delegation visit had to be shifted due to
protests outside the plant. The group had been scheduled to carry out
inspections at a number of factories with a view to increasing exports to the
Chinese market and the visit had to rearranged. A spokesman for Kepak told the
Irish Times that this was an “massive own goal”​ and warned that “the
cost of the failure to get this site Chinese export approved will be primarily
borne by west of Ireland farmers for many years”​.